Albuquerque Turkeys

1.  We hired someone to add a bathroom between two of the upstairs bedrooms.  It was a pain while it was going in, but it's been SO GREAT having another bathroom to relieve the congestion/contention. Hurray!

3.  I took some of the kids to help clean up ABQ in preparation for the Balloon fiesta. There were lots of people from all over town, and lots of Mormons that we knew from our ward and other wards, so that was fun to work together and serve our community.  (Not sure where Sean was--maybe sick?)

Sept 9-11, 2016

Brooklyn, NY

Ellis Island, NY

Arthur's brother Matt married his sweetheart Erin on September 10th.  We left the 6 oldest kids with my sister, Melanie, and Nathan flew out with Arthur and I for the wedding.  We got there Friday night and stayed at Matt & Erin's place with Mike and Amber, and Matt's dad, Phil.  Friday night we went out for a pre-wedding dinner at a little restaurant in Brooklyn.  The owner is friends with Matt and Erin and closed the place for the night just for their wedding party.  We met Erin's family and got to visit with Viva who was staying with a friend in the city.  

Saturday morning we had breakfast at Four and Twenty Blackbirds.  Pie for breakfast is always a good idea.  Then we went out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty with Mike and Amber.  It was really cool to learn about the history of Lady Liberty, Ellis Island and the immigrants who were hoping to start a new life here in America.  We got back just in time for us to all take a quick shower (never visit New York in the summer--we were sweating buckets!!) and clean up for the wedding!  

Matt and Erin were married at a small park on the waterfront and the sky they ordered was stunning.  After the ceremony and pictures we walked to the Atelier Roquette for a beautiful reception with food and dancing.  Nathan was such a trooper on his first big trip and would just fall asleep in our arms whenever he was tired.  What an angel!

9-7-16

Pack Meeting

Haines Building

Sean earned his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light.  Great job gettin' it done, buddy! (And yes, my 11-year-old is taller than me.)

Sept 2-5, 2016

Labor Day Weekend

CO Springs and Ft Collins

Colorado

We found out that Fort Collins was having an open house for their new temple over Labor Day weekend.  Since it wasn't too bad of a drive, and we wanted to take the kids to show them, we called and made a group reservation for us to go.  We drove up and stayed with the Amsden family in CO Springs which was so much fun!  On Saturday we went to check out the Olympic Training Center.  It was really cool to see where so many of the athletes train on a scholarship basis.  Since the summer olympics just happened, there weren't very many athletes actually there training--most of them were taking a break.  But it was still awesome to see the facilities they use.

Sunday we just went to church, had homemade pizza and watched Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in the Amsden's big movie room.  

Monday we drove up to Fort Collins for the temple open house.  Bennett said, "We are going to the temple and we will see Jesus!"  We didn't see Jesus, but we certainly felt his spirit.  It was beautiful and such a great opportunity to share that experience with our kids.   And very fun to go together with our friends!